Corey Brewer brings his thieving game to LA
Initially, the Los Angeles Lakers were involved in a major trade that would have brought LaMarcus Aldridge to the Staples Center, but that deal fell through. The move that precipitated the team's acceptance of that initial four way did come to pass, sending Omer Asik, yet another one-time starter at center to leave the squad, to the Memphis Grizzlies for veteran wing Corey Brewer, adding another primary defender to what has increasingly become the team's focus in the second half of the season.
Clocking in with a 90.6% drive stop rate and 2.5 TOFC alongside a slightly worrying 1.02 PA/SF ratio, Brewer nonetheless represents a massive defensive upgrade over Devin Booker, the raw rookie who was part of several trade discussions, including the Aldridge move, before the deadline passed. Whether he also ends up taking minutes from front office favorite second year forward Aaron White remains to be seen, but it's worth nothing the Lakers now boast the following 2+ TOFC players in the rotation:
Victor Oladipo: 2.9
Shabazz Napier: 2.6
Chandler Parsons; 2.6
Corey Brewer: 2.4
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 2.1
Which totals a 12.6 TOFC average from those five players alone. It's a move that's allowed the Lakers to reel off three straight wins and climb back to a ghost of a chance at getting into the postseason - including two key back-to-back, 19+ point victories over the Golden State Warriors. In those three wins, the Purple and Gold was +8, +12, +9 in the TO margin, and definitely the deciding factor in the first win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The rise of Julius Randle made Omer Asik expendable
The biggest reason Asik found himself changing teams was Julius Randle. After arriving from Brooklyn with Indiana's 1st for Nik Stauskas, the 21 year old second season player has blossomed, posting 6 double-doubles in 10 games for a 60% double-double rate, and 10+ rebounds in 7 of those games, including 4 straight. He's also seen his shooting percentage increase slightly, and has acquired legions of fans in the Lakers faithful. And despite his small size at the 5, he's still posting a 0.83 PA/SF ratio.
"You can talk about how Nik Stauskas' 3 point shooting and scoring was valuable to us," Lakers GM Jestor said, "But what I think you're seeing in Julius is even more valuable. Remember Walter Tavares last year? 78 starts, he put up 16 double-doubles and had 18 games of 10+ rebounds. That's a 20.5% double-double rate, and a 23% double rebound rate. And that's with a 0.92 PA/SF ratio that's almost a tenth of a point worse than what Julius has done this season. Or, to put it another way, in 10 games, Julius has produced over a third of Walt's double-doubles last year (37.5%), and almost 40% of his double rebound games (38.9%). The rebounding rate numbers bear this out - 16% for Walter last year, 19.1% for Julius this season, and that's with Walter being two years older and in his third season."
What remains to be seen is who takes over Asik's backup minutes at center. One possibility is offensive rebounder Cristiano Felico, who has surprisingly struggled this season with shooting at 26.8%, but has a 0.78 PA/SF. Another is Aaron White and his foul-drawing and shooting skills sliding to center, allowing Corey Brewer to take the reserve minutes at both SG and SF to create an 8 man rotation of Napier, Oladipo, Parsons, Antetokounmpo, Randle, Maynor, Brewer, and White.
Regardless of what results, the mission is to finish the season strong, perhaps sneak in as the 8 seed, and prepare to become a legitimate playoff team next year, riding the system that's begun to take shape in 2017-18's second half.
